Shame’s Shadow- Day One

Nice decision. Good job choosing a direction on the first fork in the road.

The biggest obstacle standing between you and the life you wish you had is your biggest shame, your biggest fear, your biggest doubt, and the biggest reason you have had to lose hope. Typically in dealing with these kinds of hurdles we do one of two things:

*avoid them and anything related to them

OR

*live like that hurdle is the true ALL the time for YOU (ex. I will never get “X” because I did “Y”, so why even try?)

Here are the two main problems with these two approaches:

Problem One: What we avoid will ALWAYS direct our steps. Avoidance isn’t the absence of something. Avoidance is actually an invisible PRESENCE. Avoidance actually drives us by repelling us. Picture someone you don’t like or someone that you don’t think likes you. If you know you might have to see them if you make choice A, but you could easily make choice B and NOT see them…which would you choose? See? Avoidance is a presence! You think you are getting away from the problem but instead it becomes this invisible force that repels you from whatever you are trying to avoid. You aren’t free to make any choice. You aren’t the driver of your soul. The thing you are trying to avoid, at times, is actually DRIVING YOU! What stays hidden grows in power.

-AND-

Problem Two: What we believe is OUR reality no matter what the true potential of our reality actually is. Eaglets raised with chickens never fly more than a few feet off the ground, because they don’t even entertain the thought of trying. Being close to the ground is their mental truth…so it becomes their physical reality…even though they have the true potential for much more. If we live like our biggest fears, shames, doubts, or hopelessness will always be true for us, we will NEVER get more than a few feet off of the ground…not because we can’t, but because we won’t.

See, WE let the darkness of shame hide us. But the dark isn’t dark to Him. If we have the courage to stay in the quiet long enough, the light of His love will shine on the cracks…the lies that keep us tied to the shame.

So here is my prayer for us today:

Whoever you are…wherever you are,

hang on, don’t give up

or back down.

Hold on tight.

Don’t let the dark

confuse your sight.

There IS more to see.

It’s okay….it’s alright,

to

just

be

still.

Thought to think with God about or journal through:

What are my biggest sources of shame?

If you want a little more to chew on, how do these two verses relate to the answer you wrote?

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32

Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Romans 6:16

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